Judas wasn't seeking Mary out, exactly, but he'd been lurking with his usual lowlifes and hear murmurs of a woman who spoke in the park, offering forgiveness to the downtrodden, different from the other preachers. It intrigued him. Still, it took a long time to work up the nerve to go and look, half afraid it would be nothing, the other half afraid it would be something.

He loitered through the park, avoiding children on skateboards, hiding behind his baggy coat and enormous glasses, until he saw the small crowd. He stayed far enough away to remain unnoticed, or so he hoped, but close enough to hear her.

Of course it was Mary, his hateful, vindictive Mary, preaching love and forgiveness to nobodies in the park, something she would never ever offer to him. He slid around the back of the tree he was lurking under, pressing his back against the bark, wanting to leave but unable to move while her words wound their spell. He wanted it so bad, but he was not going to ask for it. Not from her. He sank to the ground and hid his face in his knees, arms around his head, listening but trying to block it out.